Macular thickness by age and gender in healthy eyes using spectral domain optical coherence tomography

Abstract

Purpose: To determine normal macular thickness and its variation by age and gender in healthy eyes using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT).

Methods: In this cross-sectional analysis, two hundred and twenty eyes of 220 healthy subjects underwent raster scanning using Topcon SD-OCT system, at the Department of Ophthalmology, Dow University of Health Sciences and Civil Hospital Karachi, Pakistan. Macular thickness from all 9 regions of the ETDRS map was documented for each subject. Variations in macular thickness measurements by age and gender were determined.

Results: The 220 subjects had a mean age of 45.3 years (16-80 years). Using the ETDRS map, foveal thickness for all subjects was measured to be 229±20.46 µm. Mean macular thickness for all subjects was 262.8±13.34 µm. Male gender was associated with greater foveal (p<0.0001) and mean macular (p<0.0001) thickness compared to females. There was no association of mean macular thickness (r(2) = 0.01; p>0.05) and foveal thickness (r(2) = 0.00004; p>0.05) with age.

Conclusion: We have provided normative data for macular thickness using Topcon SD-OCT system. Our results are comparable to some and vary from other reports using the similar OCT system. Our results suggest that male gender is associated with greater macular thickness, while macular thickness has no association with age in healthy eyes. This is the first normative data for macular thickness from Pakistan; benchmark for diagnosing and monitoring macular pathologies. The values obtained in this study may be useful for comparison with other populations, other SD-OCT systems and future imaging technologies.

Figure 1. Example of macular thickness measurements obtained with Topcon SD-OCT system.

Representative OCT image from a healthy subject (A). Fundus photograph of a healthy subject; the box indicates 6×6 mm scanning area using 3D macular protocol (B). Depiction of standard ETDRS map (C), showing map diameters centered on fovea (left) and 9 standard ETDRS regions (right). I, inferior; N, nasal; S, superior; T, temporal; RPE, retinal pigment epithelium; ETDRS, Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study; OCT, optical coherence tomography.

Figure 2. Regression plots of foveal thickness and mean macular thickness vs. age.

There is no association of foveal thickness (A) [r² = 0.00004; p = 0.92] and mean macular thickness (B) [r² = 0.01; p = 0.09] with age.